On the evening of February 17, 1864, the Confederacy's H.L. Hunley sank the Union's formidable sloop the USS Housatonic, becoming the first submarine in world history to sink an enemy ship. But also perishing that moonlit night, vanishing beneath the cold Atlantic waters off Charleston, South Carolina, was the Hunley and her entire crew of eight. For generations, searchers prowled Charleston's Harbor, looking for the Hunley, and as they hunted, the legends surrounding the boat and its demise continued to multiply. With insights gleaned from the excavation of this remarkable vessel, Tom Chaffin presents a thorough telling of the Hunley's story.

"Fueled by obsessive scholarship and a boyish sense of wonder, Tom Chaffin takes us deep down into uncharted fathoms of the Civil War—and then surfaces with a … fasctinating tale that's equal parts Shelby Foote and Jules Verne."—Hampton Sides